How to Encode and Decode URLs Online (And Why It Matters)

Have you ever noticed that URLs sometimes contain strange character sequences like %20, %3D, or %26? These are URL-encoded characters. Understanding URL encoding is essential for anyone working with APIs, web development, or even just sharing links correctly.

What is URL Encoding?

URLs can only contain a limited set of characters (letters, numbers, and a few symbols like - and _). Special characters like spaces, ampersands (&), and equals signs (=) must be "encoded" into a safe format.

For example:

A space becomes %20

An ampersand (&) becomes %26

A forward slash (/) becomes %2F

When Do You Need to Encode a URL?

Building API requests: Query parameters with special characters must be encoded.

Sharing links with spaces: A link like https://example.com/my page will break without encoding.

Form submissions: Data submitted in HTML forms is automatically URL-encoded.

Debugging: Decoding a mangled URL helps you see what data is actually being sent.

How to Encode or Decode a URL for Free

Copy the URL or text you need to encode or decode.

Paste it into our URL Encoder/Decoder.

Choose whether you want to Encode (convert to %XX format) or Decode (convert back to plain text).

Copy the result into your code, browser, or documentation.

Pro Tip for Developers

When building query strings, encode each parameter value individually, not the entire URL. Encoding the full URL would also encode the ://, /, and ? characters, which would break the link.

Need to also work with Base64-encoded data? Check out our Base64 Decode tool for handling encoded binary data and API tokens.